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ServerHacking
November 2nd 2013 - Hack together a home/office server.Edit We're running a workshop at Exeter Library on November 2nd 2013, from 10AM to 2PM. The workshop will focus on setting up a linux-based home/office server using an old laptop, desktop or raspberry pi. What would this enable you to do? Here's a handful of ideas: *Host a website *Manage your customer data and business knowledge *Get to your files from anywhere in or out of the house *Encrypt your web traffic when away from your desk *Centralise your backups *Work collaboratively *Share one copy of your media to your desktop, tablet and TV *Create a wiki of recipes, notes and messages that’s everywhere you are Who's going to be running it? Gray Marchiori-Simpson is CEO of the E-Space Project. Gray has been working in IT for over 5 years and building and running home servers for twice that long. Their favourite operating system is OpenSolaris, and their least favourite is Solaris 11. Their home servers have gone from 2000 watts to under 5 watts in less than three years. Julius Apweiler is a Director of the E-Space Project. An avid chef of his own allotment produce, Julius has been running a series of home servers since 1999. The latest works not only as a web server and home file server, but also as an internet firewall/router. Timetable of events The workshop will be running for four hours, from 10am to 2pm. The event will start with a brief presentation on how and why the home server works. From there, the workshop will break out to start helping people get set up with a new system, using debian and ubuntu operating systems. What do I need? If you'd like to take part, you will need the following: *A home server. **This can be a Desktop, Laptop or Raspberry Pi computer with a power cable and either a wifi or ethernet network connection. **Any working windows computer from about 2006 onward should be fine. **You'll need to completely erase the drive in order to install linux, the server operating system. So make sure there's nothing you want to keep on the drive! **If your computer doesn't have a working screen built in, it will need a VGA or DVI port for the initial setup. **Mac's make great home servers. But they generally need a lot more work than a windows computer, and special software to boot. As such, unless you can get ubuntu or debian linux installed and running on your mac before the workshop, you won't be able to use it. *If your computer doesn't have a screen, another useful tool to bring along is your laptop. You can use this to access the server one the initial setup is complete, just as you will when you get it home or back to your office. *If you're using a desktop or laptop, then it's worth bringing a blank USB flash drive with you. We'll have a few USB install disks with us, but being able to copy your own is a good skill, and could save time if we run out of drives. *A notebook and pen! We're going to cover a lot of set-up, and it will be good for you to make notes on what's being covered during the session, and how to use and maintain your server when you get home.